Dog Advice Topic: Jumping

October 18th, 2004
I have a seven month old Labrador Retriever that won't stop jumping. We didn't mind so much when he was smaller but now he's going on 60 pounds and really packs a punch. I am also going to visit my family over Thanksgiving so there will be everyone from toddlers to grandparents there. We were planning on bringing him with us but we don't want to risk the bruises and potential broken hips that he could cause. Is there anything we can do in time??
- Jumping in Joliet

This is one of the tougher issues us dogs have to deal with in adjusting to human life. We mostly jump on people to get attention and say Hi.

The problem is that when we first started meeting people as a little puppy they all let us jump up so we thought it was ok. Then suddenly some people started getting upset about it. I couldn't tell what had changed so I figured I'd just keep trying since some people didn't mind and I sure loved the petting.

That didn't seem to fly with my Mom so she taught me a few things. First she showed me how all fun things happened when I sat down. If I sat down when she was making my food they put it down for me to eat. If I sat down in front of them while they were watching TV they would pet me. Even while we were out for walks. I would see someone that I wanted to pet me and I learned that if I sat down they would say Hi. If I wouldn't sit we would just walk on by them.

I figured this sitting thing was pretty good so I started doing it for everything. That taught me how to get attention properly.

But to show me that jumping wasn't a good idea they did another thing called tethering. They connected my leash to a immovable object so they controlled when I had access to them. Then they would step near me and if I jumped they would step away, but if I would sit they would pet me. I learned pretty quickly not to jump on them.

Then they had lots of friends come over and do the same. I love meeting new people so I figured out the only way to get love from them was to sit while they were petting me. All in all it was a tough learning process with all the confusing signals at first but now I understand that jumping up is never the right answer.

It sometimes takes a while for dogs to relearn how to greet people but if you get as many people to help you before you leave, you will have a good start. You can also recruit family to help with the training. Just to be safe I'd keep him on a leash so you can step on it to prevent him from jumping, and know that younger kids that move quickly and make a lot of noise are going to be more exciting. So keep a closer eye on him then.

I hope that helps with your pup!

And that's the bark on the street!
Bark up!
Bella

Think you got a stumper for Bella? Send her your problem and check back to see if your email is selected!